Polished hard surfaces are desirable for several applications. For example, polished hard surfaces can be used to form scratch/abrasion-resistant materials for electronic and other consumer products.
To polish a surface of a substrate, polishing media are placed adjacent to the substrate and moved relative to the substrate surface. This relative movement can be created by rotating the media, by rotating the substrate, by orbital movement of the substrate or media, or a combination of such movements, typically within an epicyclic gear system. Additionally or alternatively, linear or any other useful relative motion between the media and the substrate can be used. A force can be applied to press the media against the substrate surface. A slurry, which includes abrasive materials, can be used in the polishing process to assist with removing material from the substrate surface.
By their nature, hard materials are difficult to polish. Typical polishing media used to polish surfaces of hard materials, such as sapphire, include non-woven impregnated polyester felts. Although these materials can be used to polish sapphire and/or other hard materials, material removal rates during polishing and material removal uniformity is often less than desired. In addition, product yields through polishing can be relatively low (e.g., about sixty to seventy percent or less). Because the material removal rates are relatively low, additional polishing time, labor, and equipment is required to polish the hard material surfaces. The additional time, labor, and equipment, in turn, leads to increased costs associated with polishing the hard material surfaces.
Accordingly, improved polishing materials and media with improved performance (e.g., relatively high and uniform removal rates and/or relatively high yields) and methods of forming and using the media and materials are desired.